Vernon County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Vernon County: 0.
2. Weak tornadoes were under-recorded before Doppler radar coverage became national in the early 1990s, so earlier decades read low. Ratings use the Fujita scale before February 2007 and the Enhanced Fujita scale after.

Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, 1950 to 2025.

Smoke overhead

1. A smoke day is a date on which a smoke plume traced by NOAA Hazard Mapping System analysts from satellite imagery covered this place's point (the county's population centre or the city centre). Counts here are of medium or heavy smoke. Since 2018 analysts have often drawn light smoke as one area over most of the continent, so light-smoke counts are not comparable from year to year. The plumes show smoke anywhere in the air above, not air quality at the ground, and smoke hidden by cloud is missed.

NOAA Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, 2011 to 2026, retrieved October 30, 2026.

Claims by ZIP code

This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026. NOAA Storm Events through 2026.

River crests

River gauges

1. Crests are the highest and the recent crests the National Weather Service lists for each river gauge in the county that has a flood stage, not every flood. Flood categories use each gauge's current flood stages; crests from before levees, dams or channel changes may not be comparable. Crests measured on an old datum are left out of the rankings.

NOAA National Water Prediction Service gauge records, retrieved October 30, 2026.

1. The Palmer Drought Severity Index is computed by NOAA each month from the county's average temperature and precipitation, relative to the county's own climate. Zero is normal; -3 or lower is severe drought and -4 or lower extreme drought. It describes the long-term balance of moisture, not water supply or crop losses.

NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, 1895 to September 2026, issued October 6, 2026.

1. Earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more in the USGS Comprehensive Catalog since 1900. Within 50 miles means the epicentre lies within 50 miles of the county boundary (or inside the county).
2. Small earthquakes were under-recorded before the modern seismic networks of the 1970s and are still missed in remote areas, so early decades read low. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them and mix scales (moment, local and body-wave).

USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, 1900 to present, retrieved October 30, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Apr 26, 2026Hail$25.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A severe thunderstorm produced hail from golf ball to tennis balls in size over a swath nearly 32 miles in length from south of Nevada, MO to locations north and east of Nevada. Along this mostly rural path, damage occurred to some roofs of homes and structures, vehicles, multiple RV's, equipment and crops.

2. Nov 1, 2025Drought, Vernon$8.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Though below the monthly average, timely rain fell across the region through the month. This allowed for drought improvements to Moderate (D1) drought by the end of the month. Impacts across the region were largely limited to larger scale agriculture. However, farm and stock ponds saw impacts with ground water levels also falling. Crop loss estimates notated are for fall harvest loses from the summer into the fall.

3. Apr 2, 2025Tornado$1.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A National Weather Service Storm survey determined that an EF-1 tornado touched down north of Bronaugh and tracked northeast on a route just east of a separate tornado that tracked through the Moundville area. Based upon radar, satellite imagery and ground surveys, the Bronaugh tornado caught up to the initial tornado then continued through Nevada and lifted west of Walker. In it���s early stages, two separate tornado debris signatures were detected by the KSGF 88D radar. Initially causing damage only to trees and barns, the tornado damaged several homes and outbuildings as it tracked toward Nevada, damaged numerous businesses as it crossed Highway 54 at Nevada. The tornado…

4. Apr 21, 2022Hail$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Half dollar sized hail was reported via MPing. Hail combined with an estimated 50 mph winds damaged 300-400 vehicles along with numerous roofs.

5. Dec 9, 2007Ice Storm, Vernon$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Ice accumulations up to one and a half inches were observed across southern Vernon County. Rural areas of southeast Vernon County and the communities of Sheldon and Montevallo were hit the hardest, and widespread power outages occurred for several days. Major tree and power line damage resulted. Further north toward Nevada and other sections of the county, ice accumulations ranging from one quarter of an inch to three quarters of an inch were observed.

6. Mar 12, 2006Tornado$700,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A supercell thunderstorm produced a tornado that intially touched down east of Sheldon. The tornado tracked across rural southeast Vernon County, destroying six homes, and one church located near Virgil City. The tornado extended into Cedar County.

7. Apr 7, 2013Hail$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Golf ball size hail broke windows. The estimate damage cost for the entire county including the city of Nevada will be included in this report.

8. Apr 2, 2025Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A NWS survey team found EF2 tornado damage to a home along Highway F to the southwest of Moundville. The tornado moved northeast damaging a few more homes along with barns and numerous trees as it tracked west and north of Moundville. A second tornado that touched down near the same time to the southeast of this path eventually tracked toward and passed the initial tornado to its east as determined by ground surveys and satellite damage imagery. This second tornado tracked into the Nevada area causing extensive damage.

9. Aug 1, 2012Drought, Vernon$450,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The U.S Drought Monitor continued to report Extreme Drought (D3) to Exceptional Drought (D4) throughout the month of August. The region started seeing some rainfall by the end of the month. The COOP station near Horton reported 2.87 of rainfall for the month of August. This is a continuation of the drought that began across the region in June. As a result of the limited rainfall combined with the excessive heat, the USDA Service center in Vernon County indicated that crop losses were 75 percent of the spring planting. Many farmers and ranchers reported having to feed hay as pastures stopped growing and became dry through the month which added to operation costs. Monetary crop loss…

10. Jan 30, 2002Ice Storm, Vernon$200,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A large scale ice storm event developed over southeast Kansas and west central Missouri during the early morning hours of January 30, 2002. Synoptically, a shallow arctic air mass moved through the region dropping surface temperatures in the upper 20s. Strong jet stream winds from the southwest provided the influx of sub-tropical type regime. In addition, deep moisture from the Gulf of Mexico surged northward above this shallow arctic air mass to set the stage for a prolonged ice storm.Light to moderate rainfall, fell over the sub-freezing surface temperatures for nearly 36 hours. Ice begun accumulating on trees and power lines from southeast Kansas, and into west central Missouri…

1. Storm Events records before 1996 cover only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail. Damage figures are as reported by the National Weather Service at the time, not adjusted for inflation.

NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, 1950 to 2026, issued October 26, 2026.

All-time high

117°FJul 18, 1936

All-time low

−27°FFeb 12, 1899

Warmest night

86°FAug 1, 1934

Coldest day

0°F2 times, most recently Jan 15, 2024

Wettest day

10.65 inApr 11, 1994

Snowiest day

18.9 inNov 6, 1951

Hottest year

1953mean 62.8°F

Coldest year

1989mean 53.8°F

Wettest year

201970.12 in

Driest year

196321.68 in

Snowiest season

28.5 in1959-60

Station Nevada Water Plant (USC00235987), 871 ft elevation, 2.0 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1898 to October 27, 2026; 99.0% of days in the last 30 years are complete. Records at a single station can differ from a city’s official threaded record, which may combine several stations.

NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily.

This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries, retrieved October 30, 2026. Statewide declarations are not listed.

Neighbouring counties

• Tornadoes NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, through 2025.
• Tropical cyclones NOAA National Hurricane Center HURDAT2 (Atlantic; Northeast and Central Pacific), through 2025.
• Wildfire USGS/USFS Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity, through 2026.
• Storm events NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, through 2026.
• Flood insurance OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026.
• Declarations OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Weather records NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily, station USC00235987.
• River crests NOAA National Weather Service, National Water Prediction Service river gauges, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Drought NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, through September 2026.
• Smoke NOAA NESDIS Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Earthquakes USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat), retrieved October 30, 2026.

Joins, thresholds and known limits are set out in the methodology. Found an error? Report it. Page built October 30, 2026.